Easy Valentine's Day Decorations and Gifts

Smart cookie

A heart-shape cookie cutter is just the right size to hold a couple of chocolate hearts. Hot glue cookie cutter to pink glitter paper, then glue a ribbon to the side of the cookie cutter, winding it around the heart.

Wonderful watercolor

Spread the love with a special hand-made card. Draw a design on white cardstock with a white China marker or white crayon. Lay some watercolor on top to reveal the design and bring bright color to the page. Pair with a bright envelope.

Cupcake liner bouquet

A Valentine's bouquet that's inexpensive and long-lasting! We created our flowers using two mini cupcake liners and three regular cupcake liners. Flatten cupcake liners and use a straight pin to poke two small holes about an inch apart in the center of the liners. Insert floral wire up through one set of holes and back down the other to hold liners together and serve as a "stem." Pinch and shape the cupcake liners as desired. If you want a fuller flower, use more liners. Wrap the stem with floral tape.

Valentine's cupcake bouquet

Stamped cookies

Create a personal message on either packaged or homemade sugar cookies. Use a pastry brush to dab red food coloring onto clean rubber stamps normally used for crafts. Lightly press a message into cookies.

Book lovers

Give a bookmark with heart to the reader in your life. Cut rectangles out of cream-color and red wool felt. For the bookmark at left, we cut a heart out of the cream-color felt, trimmed the edges of the red felt with scallop-edge scissors and glued the pieces together. For the bookmark at right, we stitched up the middle using embroidery floss, then glued on a red felt heart.

Photo card

Make this easy photo booklet for a family member who can display it on a dresser or shelf. Accordion-fold patterned card stock, center a photo in each square (our squares are about 4 inches), and attach with photo corners. Punch a hole in the back for ribbon. Fold paper and tie the ribbon; add a Valentine's scrapbooking charm if you like.

Paper curls wreath

This wreath covered with paper curls makes a pretty decoration for your home. To start this project, tightly wrap 1x6-inch strips of patterned paper around a pencil to curl. Glue the end of each curl into a loop. Hot-glue the paper to an 8-inch foam wreath form, and repeat until the form is covered. Embellish with a Valentine's Day sentiment if you like.

Valentine's buffet

This sweet buffet table was arranged for a Valentine craft-making party among girlfriends, but you could use the same idea for any gathering. Food is low-prep and portable: champagne, nuts, candies and cookies.

Creative cookie gifts

Package your Valentine's cookies in a simple, pretty homemade bag. Slip a cookie or two in a plastic treat bag (available at crafts stores) with a piece of scrapbooking paper. Fold contrasting paper over the opening, punch two holes, and tie with ribbon.

To make your cookies pink, add a few drops of gel food coloring to sugar cookie dough. Decorate with sugar hearts (attached with frosting) if you like.

Love notes

Decorate a mantel, window or mirror with a garland of mini love notes for your sweetie. We created ours from white cardstock, red paper and pink glitter paper, but you could use any supplies you have in the house or use inexpensive purchased cards.

Potato hearts

Fingerling potatoes sliced in half lengthwise make perfect stampers for Valentine's treat sacks. Put a piece of cardboard inside a 4"x6" muslin bag. Take one potato half and press into an ink pad or paint, then press onto the bag to create half a heart shape. Press the other potato half into a second ink pad or different shade of paint and press onto bag to complete the heart. Let dry before removing the cardboard. Fill with candy or other treats.

'Love potion' buffet

An assortment of fruity drinks, either homemade or purchased, makes a fun "love potion" buffet. Include a sweet treat like your favorite chocolate cake, and accent with fresh flowers such as these cut cyclamen.

Painted place mats

Create cute Valentine's placemats in minutes with muslin, paint, a brush and a round stamp shape. Use the brush to make X's and the stamp to make the O's. A fingerling potato sliced in half may be the right shape for the O's.

Lunch surprise

Do you help pack lunch for someone in your house? Leave them a surprise by clipping on Valentine's candy. We used pinking shears to cut a scalloped border around red card stock, layered on a contrasting piece of paper, then attached foil-wrapped chocolates with double-sided tape.

Paper heart wreath

Make a simple wreath out of pretty scrapbooking papers and glue dots. Cut a 12-inch square of double-sided scrapbook paper into one-inch strips. Make seven hearts. Fold a paper strip in half, sandwiching a glue dot about an inch down from the fold to create the top of the heart. Bend the loose ends away from the center and use two more dots to join them at the point. Use glue dots to adhere the sides of the hearts in a circle and to add a ribbon for hanging.

Valentine's pancakes

Use a pancake pen (such as the Tovolo one) to "write" X and O shapes with pancake batter on a hot griddle pan. Or use X- and O-shape cookie cutters to creates shapes after round pancakes are cooked. Add fresh fruit for color and a dusting of powdered sugar.

Heart wreath

Create a heart wreath with pretty card stock and scrapbooking papers. Use paper punches or scissors to cut out hearts, then curl by scraping them as you would curling ribbon. Layer and glue to a cardstock base.

Lollipop bouquet

Create a simple Valentine's Day centerpiece or gift with lollipop flowers. Fold colored card stock in half and cut out six hearts. Punch a small hole near the tip of each heart, insert a lollipop stick and arrange six hearts on the stem; fan out petals around the stick.